That Albino Kid
by Hetalia Bunny
Summary: Based of a series of ancient Chinese poems. (It's okay if you can't read Chinese, cuz obviously the language is too awesome for u)(jk) It is a series of images, and it's not very long. It is a first draft so there may be errors...
1. 塞下曲

塞下曲

卢纶

林暗草惊风，

将军夜引弓。

平明寻白羽，

没在石棱中。

Gilbert suddenly opened his eyes as an especially strong gust of wind swept over their tent. He blinked a few times at the darkness and glanced swiftly over to Daniel. Or was it Lizzie? He still couldn't tell if Daniel/Lizzie was kidding or not when he/she had told him he/she was a girl. Wow. Way to ruin someone's childhood.

Another gust of wind whistled its way through the trees and fields. What the hell? How could Daniel sleep through this?

Gilbert slowly unzipped the tent to take a look outside.

The field of grass seemed to be shivering from cold and from fear. The forest to the right was gloomy, and Gilbert could see the tips of the trees swaying wildly in the wind. Talk about creepy. The sky was cloudy, too. He hoped it didn't rain.

Just as he was about to go back in the tent, something caught his eye. He froze. There was something in the woods. A big something. Gilbert squinted, but he couldn't see it any clearer in the gloom. It wasn't moving. Maybe it was readying to pounce. Maybe it was sniffing out their scent. Gilbert froze all over.

After a staring contest between the thing and Gilbert, only interrupted by the howling wind, Gilbert slowly reached for the bow in the tent. Slow and steady. Don't scare the creature, or it might attack.

He carefully drew an arrow, pulling on the string so hard that his hands began to shake.

Careful aim. A little bit to the left of the thing as the wind was blowing right.

And he released the goose-feathered arrow. A second later, he lost track of the arrow's progress. He couldn't see anything now as slow raindrops began to pitter patter down.

Gilbert prayed to God that he and Daniel would survive to see the morning, then he went back in the tent and into his sleeping bag. His heart was still pounding and his mind was still racing.  
Eventually, he fell asleep.

When Gilbert woke up in the morning to the sunlight creeping through a crack in the tent (which also was leaking in quite a bit of water), he felt relieved, though he didn't know why. Then he remembered the incident last night.

Now in the light of day, his irrational fear seemed silly. If the creature had decided to attack them, he would have obviously defeated it with his awesomeness. Still, he sent a silent thank you to God.

When Gilbert had figured out the details of his new and improved story on how he had defeated a giant bear last night, he began vigorously shaking Daniel's sleeping figure.

"What do you want?" Daniel moaned as he slowly rubbed his eyes. "Give a girl her beauty sleep..."

Gilbert looked at Daniel a little weirdly. How long was he going to play the joke of being a girl? He then decided to start yelling Wake Up! to dispel his confused feelings.

When Daniel was sufficiently conscious, Gilbert launched into his story.

"... And I like shot this huge bear and basically saved your life so you should bow down to me and call me master!"

"Pshhh, yeah right." Daniel smirked, pulling on his shoes. "Let me see this supposed dead bear."

Gilbert turned white. Like more white than his usual pale skin. Daniel looked up.

"What? Afraid of me finding out the truth?"

Gilbert gave a shaky smirk. He must have hit the creature, right? No way would his awesomeness allow him to miss. That thought gave him courage and he stood up confidently.

"Follow the awesome me!"

And they were off, Gilbert marching and splashing mud all over the place in the front, and Daniel slowly trudging behind, still wiping his tired eyes.

"It was somewhere here..." Gilbert said as they reached the forest. "Help me find it."

They spent another 15 minutes searching for the bear that Gilbert supposedly shot with an arrow. The sun shone down on the two children, filtered by the leaves of the trees.

"Um... I think I found your arrow..." Daniel called uncertainly after a while. Gilbert became a little nervous at Daniel's tone of voice.

"Wow, Daniel, you're good at finding things... kesesese..."

"Lizzie," the brunette replied automatically. "And come here, right now."

Gilbert slowly walked over to Daniel (Lizzie?). What he saw he categorized into two things: Good and Bad.

Good news: He had hit the thing he had seen last night with the arrow. In fact, the arrow had sunk in so deep, only the feather could be seen.

Bad news: What he had hit was a rock.

Gilbert bit his lip, wondering if he would survive the teasing that would surely ensue.


	2. 春怨

**春怨**

金昌绪

打起黄莺儿，

莫教枝上啼。

啼时惊妾梦，

不得到辽西。

Lizzie groaned in annoyance. Sun peaked, no poured, through the slits in the window blinds. Outside, songbirds would just not shut up. Lizzie had even prayed and shouted for the birds to allow her a few more hours of sleep. No luck.

She sighed, still clearly remembering her dream.  
Gilbert.

Stupid white hair. Stupid laugh. Stupid arrogance. Stupid "I'll come back soon". Lizzie sighed and closed her eyes. She saw him so clearly, standing up proudly in his military uniform, gun at his side.

"I'm going to serve the army and save the country 'cause I'm just that awesome! I'll come back soon! Don't want to keep my anxious lover waiting!" He had said. Right before getting slapped on the cheek and kissed on the lips.

They had both known the risk of never seeing each other again, but Gilbert had set his eyes on serving his country. He was hard to persuade afterwards.

In the beginning of his time in a distant country, he had written many letters, mainly complaints and feelings. How bad the food was. How boring the soldiers were. How she didn't have to worry because he was still being awesome for her. After a while, however, the letters came less and less frequently. He was busy being awesome, he said.

Then one morning, the letters stopped.

She still sent hers to him, but she never knew if Gilbert received them. It was starting to make her go mad. She was frustrated and angry and terrified of the possibilities.

Elizaveta got up, banishing these thoughts from her head. Gilbert was going to come back. He had promised that. She slowly began to dress, heart painfully aching, mind painfully blank.

The birds were still chirping outside. They reminded her of faded summer memories, when they had first met.

Hunting.

Everyone said it was a boy thing. She accepted the teasing and called herself a boy. And the one stupid enough to believe she really was a boy was that one stupid albino kid. That one annoying albino kid that ended spending hours every day with her.

And now she didn't know what the albino kid was doing, where he was, even if he was alive or...

Elizaveta numbly went downstairs to start her usual Saturday routine of breakfast and lounging. Oh yeah, and mail. She had to check the mail for letters.

Mail first, she decided as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

The warm, spring day seemed to welcome her, shining brightly and inviting her outside. She walked out barefoot, allowing the bottom of her feet to feel the rough, concrete sidewalk and the prickly, green grass.

She opened the mailbox, shutting her eyes in anticipation.

When she opened her eyes...

The mailbox was empty. Like it had been for the last five months.


	3. 清明

**清明**

杜牧

清明时节雨纷纷，

路上行人欲断魂。

借问酒家何处有？

牧童遥指杏花村。

She opened her eyes. Today was April 5th. The day she had gotten the letter. A letter she had been dreading for so long.

Seven years ago, she had finally received a letter from Gilbert's base. She had hurried to the kitchen to open it, wondering what kind of excuse Gilbert had for not talking to her for so long. She also began to prepare a mental scolding she would give him once she had time to write back to him.

The first thing that went wrong was the handwriting. It wasn't his messy, familiar handwriting. It was a neat script that marched in solemn lines across the paper.

The second thing that went wrong was what the letter said. There weren't any complaints about the food and the people. There weren't any "I love you"s and "I miss you"s. There was nothing that she was searching for. Just formal writing and apologies.

The third thing that went wrong was when she noticed she had skipped the first line of the letter. By now, she had a pretty good idea of what the first line said, but she still hoped and hoped that she was wrong.

No.

She was right.

Gilbert was... gone.

And here she was today, this rainy, gloomy day, on her way to the cemetery. To visit the last, dead remains of her love. Her half.  
She drove slowly down the roads, windshield wipers flashing constantly in front of her eyes. She did not allow herself to cry.

When she reached the graveyard, she saw a few other grey people trudging slowly across the field of the dead, mourning with their bleak umbrellas.

Stupid. She had forgotten an umbrella. It did not matter. She got out of the car and marched slowly towards the one spot on the cemetery. The one spot that she cared most for.

Here lies Gilbert Beilschmidt, a proud soldier and lover of Elizaveta Hedervary.

Here he lies. She thought. Here he lies forever.

No more of his arrogance and teasing. No more of his smile and warmth. No more of his hugs and kisses. No more of his complaints and desires. Here he lies. With the rest of his dreams.

Now she let herself cry, tears intermingling with rain as they slowly traveled down her face. She crouched in front of the gravestone, huddled and depressed.

I loved you, she thought. No, I love you. I loved you, and I still love you, and I will always love you.

At some point, she ran out of tears. Her hair stuck to her back, and her black dress was heavy with rain. She let the drops of water wash over her for a few more minutes, blank.

Slowly, she got up and began to walk back to the car, feeling the emptiness of Gilbert not being by her side. She sat in the car, not caring about the wet and ruined seats. She sat there. She decided to go to the place. A place she had tried to avoid all these years.

This year, I will go. I need a break, if only a day, I need a break.

She drove her car to the bar.

And went inside. She was a sight, and she drew stares, but she silently ignored this. She demanded a drink from the blond bartender. He looked unsure, bright, green eyes sparkling against her dim, green eyes.

"Are you sure, love?"

She shouted for a drink. The bartender obliged. She drank recklessly, letting the warmth slowly cover the despair of loss. More and more. It didn't taste good, but it felt good. She was dizzy.

They were fuzzy and annoying. She wanted more. She needed more. Why were they being mean? Why were they going black? Why was everything going black?

Elizaveta first felt the light through her eyelids, pounding uncomfortably on her head. Her head hurt. It hurt a lot. She didn't know what was wrong.

Her heart hurt, too. Almost more.

Gilbert. She needed to open her eyes. She needed to get through the pain. Her head throbbed as she slowly opened her eyes.

She was in an unfamiliar room, lying on a couch. Her head hurt. Her head hurt a lot.

She dizzily sat up, focusing on the pain in her head, willing it to recede. She could not. She felt fuzzy and unsure. Weird. It was a feeling she had not felt before. The light was hurting her head.

A thumping was coming from another room. The thumping of a person walking. Each thump sent a throb of pain through her forehead.

The door opened, and someone familiar looked in. She couldn't place his face. He had something to do with Gilbert. That, she was sure of. The more she tried to think, the more it hurt.

He had blond, slick backed hair, and he held a measure of authority and preciseness. A familiar measure of authority and preciseness. He walked forward and extended his hand.

"Good Evening. I am Ludwig, Gilbert's brother. I believe you are Mrs. Hedervary?"

Elizaveta tried to return the handshake, but moving her hand made her dizzy, and before she knew it, she was lying down again.

"I'm... sorry. Will you allow me to take care of you for the rest of the day?" Ludwig looked at her with uncertainty and concern.

"...Yes" Elizaveta rasped.

She was given water and medicine, and she was allowed to rest. She was also given time to feel ashamed of how she had acted. After all, Ludwig would surely have been much more affected by Gilbert's death, yet here he was moving on in his life. Was she that weak?

By the end of the next day, she had recovered sufficiently enough to thank Ludwig and be driven back home, where she found, to her surprise, her car waiting in the driveway, unharmed. Ludwig was kind. Kind and helpful.

I must learn from him, she thought. I must move on. Gilbert would not want me like this. I must work hard and carry the responsibilities of his dreams. I must. I must.

She began seeing Ludwig weekly.


	4. 绝句

**绝句**

僧志南

古木阴中系短篷，

杖藜扶我过桥东。

沾衣欲湿杏花雨，

吹面不寒杨柳风。

The ancient trees filtered the sunlight, creating patterns on the shimmering canal. Boats gently floated up and down, anchored to the shore. The birds twittered somewhere among the branches of the trees.

Elizaveta walked slowly across the bridge. The bridge leading East. Her wooden, polished cane tapped lightly every step she took. She looked around halfway up the bridge. The water was tranquil as she gazed far off into the light blue sky. Somewhere in front of her, children's laughter could be heard. It was a nice day for a walk.

As she crossed under the shade of the apricot flower trees, she slowed down to look up. Pastel pink petals floated daintily down, some landing quietly on the pavement, others sticking to her white, spring dress and her hat. They danced around her, as if celebrating the glorious spring day.

As she continued up the road, the slight wind blew gently on her face, lifting her wispy hair. It was warm, containing the slight scent of new beginnings and tender endings. The willow tree beside her waved at her, fluttering its thin branches full of light green leaves. Like her eyes.

The blue sky. The blue sky was so vast and small.

Elizaveta continued her slow pace down the road. Down the Life. She had no fear of death. Death was just another process of life. She would allow it, and she would enjoy what she had now. The world was peaceful.

She was content.

Perhaps later today, she would sit by Gilbert's grave and tell him of what she saw today.


End file.
